Two More Octuplets Go Home

Only two kids are left at Hospital

Published March 27, 2009•Updated on March 27, 2009 at 8:38 am

NBC

Two more of the world's longest surviving octuplets went home Thursday night, and Nadya Suleman's spacious four-bedroom home is quickly filling up.

Twelve children are now in Suleman's care after Makai and Jeremiah were released from Kaiser Permanente Bellflower Medical Center, exactly two months after their historic births. Two babies remain in the hospital.

"Over these past several weeks we have seen these little ones flourish, grow stronger each day, which is rewarding for each of us who have cared for them," said Dr. Mandhir Gupta, a neonatologist at Kaiser.

The babies were born nine weeks premature on Jan. 26, weighing between 1 pound, 8 ounces, and 3 pounds, 4 ounces. Makai and Jeremiah, like their infant siblings at home, now each weigh more than 5 pounds.

The smallest octuplets, Jonah and Josiah, remain in Kaiser's neonatal intensive care unit. The hospital would not release their weights but said they are doing well.

"They were just so much smaller than the others. They just need more time to develop and grow and tolerate food," Kaiser spokeswoman Beth Trombley told The Associated Press.

The first pair of infants to arrive home on March 17 were greeted by a chaotic crush of reporters and photographers in the quiet cul-de-sac in La Habra, about 25 miles east of Los Angeles. Another pair of baby girls went home Saturday in secret, at Suleman's request.

The latest arrivals were greeted by only three photographers and were escorted by a police patrol car and a motorcycle through the city, said La Habra police Lt. Tom Dutton.

"The first time we were not notified and were taken a little off-guard by the media frenzy," Dutton said. "We finally had dialogue with a representative of the family, an attorney, and were able to prepare for this."

Dutton said police closed Suleman's street "so we didn't have any paparazzi jumping on her vehicle. It wasn't a police escort with lights and siren. We were just in the vicinity to make sure their safety wasn't compromised."

The hospital would not say when the remaining babies would be released.

Suleman, unemployed and single, had six children, ages 2 to 7, before giving birth to the octuplets. She has said all 14 children were conceived through in vitro fertilization.